


The Boys' Room Rebellion

by Memori_wanderis



Category: How to Train Your Dragon (Movies), Rise of the Guardians (2012), Toy Story (Movies)
Genre: Ableism, Ableist Language, Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Human, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Andy is seriously broken, Childhood Friends, Crying Boys, Diabolical Plotting, Fluff and Angst, Hugs, Jack Knows Guilt, M/M, Mastermind Hiccup, Revenge, Sid has Hidden Depths, Smoking, These poor bbs., Underage Smoking, Unlikely Story, Unrealistic Use of technology
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-04
Updated: 2017-08-04
Packaged: 2018-12-11 04:15:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,862
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11706615
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Memori_wanderis/pseuds/Memori_wanderis
Summary: I've had this story in my head for a long time.  It's well past the boundaries of realistic.  I always liked these two couples and thought they'd make good friends.  Starting to think of them as an OT4 after writing this.





	The Boys' Room Rebellion

It's hard to daydream, Jack thought, when the teacher just keeps talking.

He had this great story in his head; a guy struggling with a choice steps between two mirrors facing each other. A reflection on one side starts to tell him the future based on if he took one option. The reflection on the side starts to tell him what would happen if he picked the other option. But, each mirror also reflects itself, so there's even more reflections with prophecies of what would happen if he took even different options, or choices made on the first choice, and the guy starts hearing them all at once.

But Jack "Frost" Overland could not figure out how to end the thing without something like Cthluhu popping out of the mirror and tentacle-ing the guy to death and madness. It's been done; it's a little too predictable for Jack.

In Jack's mind, people tended to stay in their own lanes. You could watch Person A for a bit, then you could ask them a question and you have a pretty good guess what their answer or reaction would be. If one was feeling manipulative, you could work that predictability to your own goals. 

Jack shrugged. If you felt like it. Or, you can just live and let live, which is what Jack decided to do.

English was one of his favorite classes, but the teacher was going on and on about Fitzgerald and he couldn't find an ending to the story in his head and he needed to get away. So, he asked to go to he bathroom, with the unspoken thought that he wasn't coming back. He'd show up next class like nothing happened.

Simple plan. Get out of class, go to the second floor boys' bathroom, smoke a cigarette or two and just take the time to think in relative peace.

Jack already smelled smoke just outside the bathroom door as he pushed his way inside. No one was standing in sight, so Jack ambled over to the urinal for a quick pee break before Thinking Time. He sighted a pair of oil-streaked red Converse visible under the wall leading to one of the occupied stalls. He knew those sneakers.

"Heh," he said under his breath. "Sid."

A snort answered from inside the stall. "Frost," Sid said. "What class?"

"English," Jack said, zipping himself back up to get to the sink and wash his hands. "You?"

"Algebra," Sid grumbled. "X equals I fucking hate that class."

"I hear that," Jack said, reaching into his pocket for his smokes. Inside the closed stall was Sid Phillips; they often ran into each other here, for the same reason. He didn't meet Sid in here all the time, but enough to know to expect Phillips might be there if he came inside. A little predictable.

"Another story in your head?" Sid asked, as Jack lit up.

"Bingo."

"Y'gotta tell me sometime."

"Yeah, sometime," Jack said. But Jack never told his stories, and Sid never followed up on it. It was just something Sid always said, and it was the same back and forth that faded just as quickly.

Jack blew a smoke ring, and brushed a finger along the edge before it got away to watch it break up. He nearly leapt out of his own shoes when the bathroom door boomed open, the metal door handle slamming against the tile wall before the door closer on top pulled it back closed.

Shit! Busted!

Jack nearly jumped out of his skin when he realized it wasn't even a teacher who stormed in. Teachers weren't shorter than him, mostly. Nor did they carry a backpack, or have reddish brown hair and freckles and pale green eyes. Nor, Jack knew, did any teacher he knew of in this school have a metal prosthesis where his left leg from the knee down used to be.

Teachers weren't, five or six years ago in grammar school, his best friend.

The last time Jack saw him, it was just before Jack and his family moved across town, where they'd go to different grade schools. When he had both of his legs. Jack had missed him, then he made other friends, and those either stayed or faded, and life went on. Jack went on, and so did Hamish "Hiccup" Haddock.

Jack noticed him early in their Freshman year. Realizing the kid with the one metal leg used to be his best friend jolted Jack to his core. Hiccup had changed. Which meant Jack had, despite what he wanted to believe. Jack never spoke to Hiccup, even when they had the occasional class together. What could Jack say, after so long? What could they say to each other?

Jack was sort-of popular; Party kid, just hung around, known for coloring his hair white (hence the Frost nickname) when he started eight grade and never looked back. Hiccup wasn't bullied; even the biggest bullies in the school got skittish when it came to going after a kid with one leg. (There was a rumor in Hiccup's old school that the last guy who bullied Hiccup about his leg got to meet it. With his testicles. No one wanted to test him).

However, Bullying wasn't just physical. Words could wound, as could exclusion or just pretending someone isn't there. Jack had seen that happen to Hiccup, more than once, while he did nothing. 

Jack never told his other friends about the guilt that kept him up at night about that.

Hiccup was typing something on his phone with a grin that didn't touch his eyes. "Down, down," he muttered. "Going down."

"Hiccup," Jack breathed. "Shit, you scared me. Thought you were a teacher."

"I would never be one of those no matter how much you paid me, not after today," Hiccup said. He glanced at the floor, and noted the sneakers in the stall. "Hey Sid," he said. "You coming to Metal Shop later?"

"Never miss it, Hic," Sid said, accompanied by the sizzle of a cigarette being tossed into the toilet then a flush. The stall door opened, and Sid emerged. Taller that Hiccup, sorter than Jack, Sid had dark hair in a buzz cut faded on the sides and his trademark black T-shirt with a skull on it.

"Cool," Hiccup said, and turned to the white haired boy. "Hey Jack," he said, his manic grin melting into something a little more human, more genuine. "I...wow. You knew it was me?"

"Yeah," Jack said, shame making him want to shrink down to the three inches tall he felt inside. "I...didn't know if you remembered me."

"You two know each other?" Sid asked. 

"Grade school, before I moved when I was like nine," Jack explained.

"Yeah," Hiccup added. "We were best friends back then."

If words were edged, Jack would have been a pile of body parts on the floor at that moment. He took another drag to steady his nerves. 

"You really remembered me?"

"'Course I did, Jack," Hiccup said.

"Can we, like...talk? Later?" Jack asked. 

Hiccup nodded, as Sid found an opening.

"Is the period over already?" Sid questioned. "I didn't even feel like I was in here that long."

Hiccup scoffed in good humor. "Nah, Sid, you've got time. I'm just here because the principle can wait before I tell him why Beakman kicked me out of her History class."

"You?" Sid said, a bit incredulous.

"Bitchy Beakman kicked you out of class?" Jack knew Miss Beakman had a reputation for being a hard-ass about a lot of things. He hadn't had her as a teacher, and he prayed. 

"She finally did," Hiccup said. "I've been waiting for this. One of you got an extra cigarette?"

That question took both of them by surprise. Jack and Sid looked at each other, in some silent smoker's conference. It was obvious Hiccup wasn't going to narc on them. Jack tapped his own chest while looking at Sid, and got his pack out to hand Hiccup a cigarette and his lighter. Something about if it had been Sid and not him giving the smoke over to Hiccup felt...wrong to Jack somehow. As if it had to be Jack.

"Sure, man," Jack said. "Didn't know you smoked."

"Not often," Hiccup admitted around his cigarette. He lit up and handed back the lighter to Jack. "Thanks. Just today was just a fucking day." He took another puff to punctuate it. "I knew one of the bathrooms would have smokers in it that wasn't the girl's bathroom. Took me a few tries to find the right one."

"Yeah, Hiccup," Sid said, reaching for his own pack. "We were right here waiting for you all day."

Jack chuckled, but kept silent. Hiccup being here, it did feel like...

Had I been waiting, Jack thought. 

"So," Sid said with a smirk. "How did techie-happy dweeb smart guy Hiccup Haddock actually get kicked out of a class?"

"You're taking it really well," Jack said. "Might be a detention coming."

"So," Hiccup snorted. "I've been waiting for Beakman to do this. I've had this planned since last year." Hiccup flicked ash into the urinal, and laughed out loud at the stupefied stares from Jack and Sid. "Okay, let me explain this," he began.

"Last year, like three or four days into out Freshman year, I'm walking from my class to the Nurse's office with a list of meds I have prescriptions for to deal with this." Hiccup knocked against his metal left leg for emphasis. From the knee down, it was a thin skeletal-like structure of metal, with a larger end fitted for the companion left shoe to Hiccup's right. "Jack here knew me before the car accident," Hiccup told Sid. "It happened when I was twelve, after we lost touch."

Touch? Jack gave a start at the images in his head that word conjured up. Oh...hoo boy. It was obvious puberty had been pretty good to Hiccup Haddock, but something about him right now seemed to hypnotize Jack and hold him in place.

That spell was shattered at the sound of the bathroom door opening again. The boys tensed, expecting a teacher again.

Another student, this one with light brown hair and taller than the others by a couple of inches. He slipped inside while trying to move the door as little as possible. Before even looking to see if anyone was inside, the stranger put his hands over his mouth and screamed. Even muffled by his hands, it was shockingly loud.

Jack, Hiccup and Sid just stared, first at each other, then at the new arrival. The same question was on their minds Did Andy Davis, Sophomore class president, A student, all around preppy All American Nice Boy Next Door, just come into the unofficial smoker's Boys' Room to have a screaming freak-out?

"What," Jack said. "The hell. Was that."

Andy took his hands off of his mouth to pull in gasping breath, eyes widening in terror when he realized he was not alone. "Sorry," he panted. "Sorry. I just had to-Hiccup?!"

"Andy," Hiccup said, gesticulating with his cigarette. "One: Please don't tell me Beakman sent you to find me. Two: Please don't rat us out, here?"

"Or did you already it your brown-noser points with teachers for the month, Davis?" Sid said, crossing his arms. 

The taller newcomer shook his head. "Hey Sid," Andy said. "It's been forever."

Jack and Hiccup turned to Sid.

"Davis here and I used to be next door neighbors," Sid said, and went for a derisive look. "He was the golden boy, even before he moved. We were like six."

Hiccup looked on with interest. "Were you two buddies back then?" Sid's answer was blowing smoke in Haddock's face. Jack gave a glare to Sid's back. Rude.

"Woah," Andy said. "Sid, I am not...do you even know why..." He clenched his teeth with a scream that was not as loud. "No, no, just don't."

"Just don't what, Davis," Sid asked, getting a little closer to Andy. "Why're you in here, anyway? They got you wearing a wire to narc us? This place is everything you ain't."

"Exactly," Andy said.

"Makes sense," Jack said, chuckling. "Davis, you have a reputation of being so clean you squeak." He held up a hand to stop Andy's sputtering protest. "Whether it's true or not, that's not a bad thing. Sid, Hiccup," Jack explains. "Considering every student and teacher and employee in this school knows about this bathroom, right here. If you had to find And Davis, would you even consider the remote possibility that Andy would come within twenty feet of this place, let alone actually going inside?"

Hiccup mulled it over and nodded. "That makes a twisted kind of sense." Sid bobbed his head in agreement. 

"But that doesn't answer the question. The real one, anyway." Jack backed up a step, giving Andy some space. "Why don't you want to be found?"

"And Beakman didn't send you," Hiccup asked. His tone wasn't accusatory, but curious.

"She didn't," Andy said. "After she threw you out, and what she said about you to the rest of our class afterwards..."

"Wait, she said more?" Hiccup asked. "Did you get a video?"

"I was too mad," Andy said, shaking his head. "But if the principal asks you, you can tell him to ask me. I'll tell him what she said." He leaned against the wall, sullen. "Maybe my reputation can do something good."

"Dude," Sid said. "You could tell the principal that Beakman was eating Baby McNuggets and he'd buy it."

"What else did she say," Jack asked.

"Wait," Sid said. "Hiccup was about to explain all this from the beginning." Andy shot them a confused look. "Hiccup's got some kinda plan, and he was just starting to explain it when you walked in. Why are you here, anyway?"

"I walked out  
," Andy said.

Sid stopped dead in his tracks. "No shit?"

"You," Hiccup said, caught between laughing or gawking. "You, Andy Davis, just got up and walked out."

"I did," Andy said. "I'm sorry, Hiccup. I should have stuck up for you in class, when you were there." He glanced at Sid and Jack. "I'm supposed to be a role model when we have a teacher bullying a student, and I did nothing. I...there isn't anything. It's all talk." He ran a hand down his face, and he looked as if he was about to cry. "I don't think you need, I mean...you're strong as hell, Hiccup, putting up with how some folks treat you. I should've done something to explain that it wasn't okay." He gave an empty smile to Jack and Sid. "I know what most of the kids my age here really think of me. I know what they say behind my back." He barked out a laugh. "It's the same stuff I say about me," he added, and looked down at the tile. 

Jack moved to pat Andy on the shoulder. "Don't let them get to you," he said. To him Andy looked like he really wanted a hug, but everyone in here seemed so damn tense...Jack knew he wanted one, himself. And Hiccup. And...okay maybe not Sid so much. "Still, however you feel, man, getting up and walking out in the middle of class, in protest, that's kinda ballsy."

Andy mumbled something, and Hiccup asked. "What, Andy?"

"I told her," And said, looking at Hiccup. "I told her that she was wrong, that she was awful to you, and that she was a total shitshow as a teacher and even worse at being a human being." The world inside the bathroom went dead silent. "Then. I left."

Their reactions came one after another?

"You called her out...for me?" Hiccup.

"You sassed Bitchy Beakman in front of the whole class," Jack said. He would never have guessed Andy capable of that.

"You actually used swear words? My man!" The other three boys looked at Sid. "Hey, I've known him longer than you two. You have to understand."

"Fuck yeah, I did," Andy said. Sid clutched his chest in a fake heart attack. "And no, I didn't get it on video. But I bet...you might hear it from others." He turned to Hiccup as Sid came over to lean against the wall next to Andy. "I...interrupted you. This isn't about me." He pursed his lips. "Can I hear your story, too?"

"Settle in, Andy," Hiccup said. "It's a doozy."

"As I was saying," Hiccup continued, sparing a glance for the door in case a fifth person wanted to join them. Jack inwardly gave thanks that it didn't happen. "Like right when Freshman year started, I had to stop at the nurses office with a list of medications I was using back then to deal with the pain from losing my leg. It's been like four years, and there's still some issues, but I'm just happy to be alive." He sighed. "So, I passed a room where Beakman was lecturing one of her classes. She didn't notice me, which was a good thing. But she...has this thing about contributing to society, and how people with disabilities don't have anything to offer, so they..." He drew his finger across his neck.

"Are you fucking kidding me," Sid said. "I never had her, so...how could she say that? Beethoven was totally deaf and he wrote all that amazing music shit..." The other three boys slowly turned their heads to Sid. "...that I overheard some band dweebs talking about before I shook them down for their lunch money!"

"Uh...huh." Hiccup just stared at Sid for another moment or two. "Aaaanyway, after overhearing this and being made to feel like total worthless shit, I started asking around. Mostly the upperclassmen; some of them maybe thought I was a mascot or something, but they talked to me like I was there."

Jack decided he's rather see Hiccup ranting and raving and trying to kick his ass than these subtle needles in his words. Jack's stomach adopted gravity a bit more. I can never make it up to him, he thought.

To one side, he saw Sid take out his cigarettes, and lit one before nudging Andy in the arm. He offered the pack to Andy when the taller guy looked over. Andy first waved his hand to refuse, but slowly stopped. He nodded, and took one as Sid gave him a smile and his lighter. Andy lit it, and it was obvious he didn't smoke. He first just pulled the smoke into his mouth, and blew it out in one breath.

"The upperclassmen told me they had all heard that from her, and maybe one or two complained, but in the end that was just how she was."

This got interrupted by a cough from Andy, who seemed to have decided to experiment more with his cigarette. Sid patted him on the back and offered him a sealed water bottle out of one of the pockets of his baggy jeans. With watery eyes, Andy accepted the water with a grateful smile, and waved at Hiccup, telling him to go on.

"For some reason," Hiccup said, throwing his spent butt into the urinal, "I didn't find that acceptable. But, if I went to anyone higher up the chain, I'd probably be told what anyone else who protested was."

"That sucks," Andy said. His cheeks were red, as if he were mad about it.

"That it does, Mr. Davis," Hiccup drawled. "So, I had to find a way to stop that bullshit. I started putting together a plan." He smiled, just so, and Jack was both drawn to that easy, devious smile and utterly terrified of it. What happened to you, Hiccup? "I worked my ass off, more than usual in class. And I worked out the schedule for my sophomore so that the only History class I could get into was hers."

"You might be the first person who tried to get into one of her classes," Jack said. He knew he had enough friends who were dismayed that they got Beakman for history. "That didn't set off any alarms?"

"Not a one." Hiccup just flat out grinned. "I never came right out and said I wanted into her class. I just fiddled with my schedule until I was sure I couldn't be placed anywhere else for it."

"Wow," Sid said, and Andy just looked intrigued at the whole thing. He nursed his cigarette slowly, sometimes looking towards Jack and Sid, with a questioning look.

Wait, Jack realized. Andy's looking for my approval. What planet am I on?

"Now, since lectures are long and boring and us gosh-durned kids today who won't get off old people's lawns have no attention span. So recording lectures to get notes later, well, that's pretty common." Hiccup's head tilted downward. "There's no rule against it. And if someone hacked into their phone to turn the microphone gain all the way up to make sure he didn't miss a single word she said...well, that's just diligent work, isn't it?" Hiccup crossed his arms and leaned against the outside wall of the stall. "So from Day One, every single little snide, ableist bullshit comment was being recorded for posterity. It was practically propaganda. And I wrote every one of those comments out in a notebook, with the time and date marked. I transcribed those, along with the comments on individual sound files in three formats, and have them saved to four different flash drives." His grin widened, shark-like. "Only one of them is in my own house."

Looking stricken, Andy waves a hand. "Uh, Hiccup? I give you props for all the work you put in, but...don't you think that's a bit much?"

This was answered with a nod. "I feel you, Andy," he said. "Trust me, it was fucking tedious work. But, I spent a majority of my seventh grade year meeting with lawyers and litigators after a drunk driver's SUV T-boned my dad's Chrysler with both him and me inside. You know, before we sued him for damn near everything." He tapped his artificial foot against the floor. "And one thing I learned was to save Everything. Back it all up, and have backups for the backups." His eyes narrowed. "I didn't want to leave anything on this to chance. I only have one shot to pull this off, and I will be damned...I would rather take my leg off and beat myself to death with it than have another kid like me ever, EVER have to feel what I felt when she said her fucking shit."

"Hear hear," Sid said. "Fuck that shit."

Jack moved, despite the risk, to put an arm around Hiccup's shaking shoulders. He felt the smaller guy lean into him, and it felt natural. It felt Right. 

"M'sorry," Andy said, worrying at his lower lip.

"It's okay, man." Hiccup gave Andy an encouraging smile. "We have different lives, so there's different perspectives. If they'd been reversed, I might've said the same thing to you."

"It sounds obsessive, from someone outside," Andy said, and stifled a cough with his hand. 

"That's why I need this over quickly," Hiccup said. "Because it's hitting that border on obsession and I want to make sure I don't take it too far." He looked up to the guy with his arm around his shoulders. "Uh, Jack?" He brought two fingers to his lips in a 'smoking' motion. Jack obliged, and left his lighter in Hiccup's hands. Hiccup put an arm around Jack's midsection and squeezed tight. "Thanks, bud," he whispered, and let Jack go. 

Jack gave him some space. He hadn't had anyone call him 'bud' since...Hiccup. Maybe he could be his friend again.

Hiccup smoked for a minute before continuing, calmer now. "Which brings us to today!" he said. "Today, finally, being recorded, she gave her contributing to society speech." Hiccup's breathing quickened. "Finally. She took so goddamn long...here," he said, and pulled out his smartphone. A few taps, and he started to play the file. Beakman went on about society and contributing and adding to it.

"'Um, Miss Beakman,'" Hiccup's voice could be heard loud and clear. "'See, I have this artificial leg and all, but I've found that I am still able-bodied and a sound mind so I am more than capable to contribute to this ideal society of yours. I feel your outlook is prejudiced and unsound.'"

They heard Beakman snort. "'But that leg of yours still makes you a burden on the normal populace, allocating resources that could go to more deserving, able-bodied folk.'" They had her snide derision. "'What could your special metal leg do for me, after all?'"

"'Well,'" Hiccup from class replied. "'Maybe if you had access to more long, hard things in the right places you wouldn't be such an unpleasant steaming pile of bitch.'"

The recording went silent, along with the boys. 

"They're not done," Andy said, as witness. "It got so quiet in there you could have heard a fly fart." Sid belted out a laugh at that euphemism, as Jack shushed them both.

"'I...'" the teacher's voice sounded strained. "'I have never-'"

"'I figured, MISS Beakman,'" recording Hiccup said. "'Worse comes to worse, you your fingers. Some Vitamin O might make you less of a bigoted cunt.'"

"'GET OUT,'" Miss Beakman bellowed. "'And never come to my class again. I'll see to your suspension.'"

"'Likewise,'" Hiccup muttered under his breath, but his phone mic picked it up. There's the sounded faded out as Hiccup left the class.

"Ohhhh, my God," Sid said, leaning against the wall. "That was...holy shit. That was metal, Hiccup. That was fucking metal!" He stifled to hold in more laughter. "That was so many it even made Andy's balls finally drop."

"You'll never know," Andy said casually to Sid.

Hiccup cracked up at that one, and Jack made a mental note that smoking a cigarette gave Andy sass. Like Popeye and his spinach. That mental image got Jack into a snorting laughter fit.

"But!" Hiccup said. "But wait, there's more! Andy here said there was more stuff, sadly lost to the non-recorded ether, after I left. So tell us, Davis." Hiccup's grin grew wide. "Start from when your balls dropped."

"Fuck you," Andy said.

"Make me," Hiccup retorted.

This isn't the smokers bathroom, Jack thought as his entire body got the shivers. Somewhere between English class and here I fell through a portal into fucking Bizarro World. They're goddamn hate-flirting... no, calm, Jack, he reasoned. Hiccup seems to like Andy. A flash of green anger flared behind his eyes. Andy doesn't seem capable of hating anyone. Maybe himself.

"Anyway," Andy said, his ears crimson. "Beakman waited until she couldn't hear you, then a couple of minutes more, then came right out and said 'Okay, now that Stumpy McParasite's gone, can we continue?' Then, I left." Andy sighed into the silence that covered the bathroom. "If you need me to repeat that to anyone, Hiccup, say the word."

The back of Jack's head thumped against the wall. He admitted to himself he never had to deal with anything like this. Even hearing the evidence, he could hardly believe it. Teachers liked him, other students like him, so he never had to...deal with this. 

But Hiccup did. He's done so for years now.

And you weren't there for him, Frost. He probably still hates you.

He'll have to get in line, Jack thought. Starts right behind me.

"So," Jack finally breathed, fumbling for his cigarettes. "What's the plan? What do you need?"

"Well, I might need Andy's testimonial if asked. But the conversation before might be enough," Hiccup explained. Andy seemed to be sweating, and Sid was close by Davis, patting his shoulder. "See, the one flash drive in my house? It's right here," he said. "I've had it all saved, right here. And I've had a rough draft of a formal letter of complaint explaining the bigotry I was subjected to with all occasions of such annotated, and accompanying sound files, along with today's blowup. I focused on the emotional distress I suffered as a result, and it's addressed to the principal, my father, the head of the PTA and I've been keeping up the roster of the entire Board of Education for our town. My lawyer's e-mails are on the CC line."

"And you're gonna send it off." Sid let go of Andy's shoulder.

"I did it twenty-five minutes ago." Hiccup paused. "I always wanted to use that line, and I didn't want to wait ten more minutes."

Jack pulled the cigarette from his lips. "What. The Actual. Fuck," he said, voice flat. "Hiccup, I don't know if that's genius, or insane."

"I think the answer is 'Yes.'" Sid piped up. "God DAMN, remind me to never get on your bad side."

"So...what's gonna happen," Andy asked, his voice small. 

"E-mails will be read," Hiccup said. "My dad is going to blow his fucking stack, the Board of Ed is now known to have the information, and are aware of the lawyers I copied. They're going to sweat bullets. Knowing all of the above now know, along with the information that she's been doing this for years and any previously complaints have been ignored, is going to make our school principal shit himself." He let out a deep breath. "It's likely Beakman will finish her day, and there will be closed-door meetings into the night, and soon if not tomorrow, her classes will have a substitute for the foreseeable future. It is not likely they will escort her off the ground now with her kicking and screaming and swearing her eternal revenge on me. But you can't win them all."

The answer left Andy pale. "You might not need it, but...if you want someone to have your back, I'm in."

"Me, too," Sid said.

Hiccup looked to Jack, who nodded. "I want to be offended that you felt you needed to ask me, Hic," he said. "But I deserve that."

"We'll deal with it later," Hiccup said, his smile growing more warm and less predatory. "I just want to lie low, maybe bolt for home after classes change."

"Hey, Davis," Sid said, nudging Andy again. "You all right?"

"Maybe?" Andy said, uncertain. "I don't know. I don't think I'd be comfortable here today. I-i mean in class. I'm okay here but I don't want to go..."

"And?" Hiccup said. The word was slow-spoken, trying to draw out Andy's thoughts.

"I can't just stay in here all day." Andy ran a hand down his face. "I mean...it wouldn't be bad. But, what if a teacher comes in right now? What'll happen."

"Detention," Sid said, resigned. He know how this worked.

"Then you get sent back to class," Jack added, and regretted it when Andy basically did a whole-body flinch.

"But, dude," Sid went on to say. "Mouthing off to a teacher then you get caught smoking? Considering who you are? People'll be talking about this for weeks..."

"N-no," Andy said, putting his hand to his face again to wipe his eyes. "I don't want it any more."

"Want what?" Hiccup asked.

"Any of it." Andy tried to take a breath before shooting Sid a glare. "Ooo, look, Andy Davis is such a role model, such a nice boy, the one every parent wants their kids to be like. It was so damn easy at first. Be nice, don't cause a fuss and people will like you. The little golden boy." He started sliding down the wall. "I feel like this...this action figure. Let them pose you and move you around and be what they imagine you to be and you'll be their favorite and they'll...they'll love you."

During the speech, Jack, without realizing it, started edging closer to Hiccup. Their sides touched, and Hiccup squeezed Jack's shoulder in silence. Neither said a word; neither would ever believe they would see Sid Phillips with tears running down his cheeks. Sid sat down next to Andy, and put an arm over his shoulders. No words were said.

"E-everyone said," Andy said. "When my dad died, everyone said that I was the man of the house, now. That I had to be there for my mother and sister and be...be there because my dad wasn't anymore." He looked up, his eyes beet red. "I was. Five. Fucking. Years. Old." Both Jack and Hiccup started to move to where Sid and Andy sat, squatting down. "Who the hell says that, and puts that kind of a burden on a five year old kid when he's feeling the most vulnerable and scared he's ever been on the worst day of his life?"

Jack shifted Andy away from the wall, to give both himself and Hiccup access. An effort to comfort Andy turned into what amounted to a group hug on a high school bathroom floor.

"Guys?" Andy asked. "Let me breathe? Space? Please?" The others scooted away from Andy. Jack noticed he still looked strung out, but Andy was no longer shivering. "I've been faking it til I make it since then. I know what people say behind my back. That I'm a phony. They're kinda right. But I just want to...like, not feel like someone's going to be Very Disappointed in me if I get food stuck in my teeth. Or that I'm a Bad Influence if I sneeze before I can cover my mouth."

"Shit, Andy," Sid said. "I never knew. I always thought your dad walked out, like I wanted mine to." Andy looked at him with raised brows. "He finally did a few years after you moved. Alkie fucking bastard. I was so jealous of you, because your dad seemed so nice and I didn't understand why he'd leave."

Andy slumped where he sat. "And you still had your dad," Andy said. "We were what, five? We were way too young to get any of that. Back then I certainly didn't know what all the cans in your parlor floor meant."

Sid gave him a sad smile. "And I didn't get why everyone was so sad when you were wearing all these fancy suits and clothes and going for a ride in a limo."

"Oh my God," Andy said, shaking his head. 

"You're all right, Davis," Sid said. "You kinda just need to stop being, I dunno, this doll everyone wants you to be and just..." He rubbed his chin. "I don't have the right words for it. Tell 'em you need some room to breathe, and that you haven't felt like a kid in what, ten, eleven years? You need some fucking space and all that shit off your shoulders so you can...hurnh." Sid grunted. "Tell 'em to let you mess up! Make mistakes! Do what you're not supposed to, and get some life experience from it." The dark-haired guy shook his head. "I'm not explaining this right. I'm not the smart one, but you get what I mean?"

Jack bit down on his tongue to stop from just flat-out laughing at Sid. Jack always suspected something about the punk kid; either he was smart and he lacked confidence. Or, he wasn't the brightest book-wise but insightful as fuck. Or, he was smart, and played dumb because that's what people expected him to be.

Shit, Jack thought. Him and Andy are more alike than they realize.

"Hey, Sid?"

"Here," Sid replied, tossing Andy his cigarettes.

"I'm not going to ask how you knew what I was going to say."

"And I'm not going to tell you."

"So," Jack said. "You're not worried about getting caught?"

Andy shrugged while lighting up. Cough. Cough. "Getting one detention is not going to ruin my entire life," he mused. 

"You don't sound convinced," Hiccup admitted.

Andy inexpertly blew out some smoke. "Yeah, well, today is the first day I haven't felt like I was in a box for a long time. I'll take my chances." He sighed once more. "Thanks for listening to my baby shit," he said. "You all right, Hiccup?"

The freckled boy's shoulders shifted. "I am. I'm wondering if anything will happen with Beakman today, but I'm too wired. I want to get scarce."

"Want some company?"

Jack glared at the floor pretending it was Andy's head. He was about to say the same thing.

"I was kinda hoping all of you would come with me," Hiccup said. "Dad's at work. I don't...really feel like being alone. Right now. Anymore."

All those years. Jack felt the wetness forming in his own eyes. Man, if people knew they were being all open and weepy in here the four of them would never hear the end of it. Of course, Jack thought. Because they were jealous.

"I'm game, I'll drive," Sid said. This suited the others just fine; none of them had cars.

"Sure," Jack said, standing up. "Can...can you give me a minute? This is all kinda heavy."

The other boys nodded, waited for Andy to finish his smoke just as the bell rang, and filtered out into the hall.

Jack looked at himself, white hair disheveled and blue eyes weary, in the mirror.

"Jack," he asked his reflection. "What the hell just happened?"

Well, he thought. It turns out that instead of getting time to think in some peace and quiet, we found out that the class wannabe-hood has more going on his head than he lets on. The class golden boy just had his mid-life crisis triggered, and the boy who used to be best friend growing up lost is leg and gained the ability be a diabolical mastermind, starting with taking down a bigoted teacher who had tenure and seemingly working his way up from there.

"Dude," he said, so he could see his reflection say it back to him. "I don't even know."

"Jack?" The door opened as Hiccup slipped back inside.

"Hiccup?" Jack turned and took his hands off the sink. "What are you doing?"

"Andy went on ahead. Said he wanted to go before he stopped and changed his mind. Sid went with him to make sure he didn't change his mind."

"And you?"

Hiccup tilted his hand in Jack's direction.

"Since it's just us now," Jack said. "If you want to dis-invite me, you can. Sid and Andy don't have to know."

"No I'm not dis-inviting you," Hiccup replied. 

"Why not?" Jack said, rubbing at his eyes. "All this shit happened to you. And I could have been there. I should have been there and I wasn't because I was too selfish to write an e-mail or call or something." He shuddered. "You were the best friend I ever fucking had, Hiccup. I'm sorry. I'm so fucking sorry-"

Jack felt the hand grasp his elbow. "Jack Overland, or Frost or whatever you call yourself now and you are so going to explain that white hair to me later. Look at me." Hiccup pulled, surprisingly strong for his size, and Jack's hands came away from his eyes. "Look. At. Me." Those startling green eyes locked onto to Jack's own, and he was frozen. "Jack," Hiccup said. "You said I was your best friend. In my mind you never stopped being mine."

Jack felt the floor fall away from him. "Just like that? You just want to pick up where we left off, just like that, like the last seven years-"

"Just like that," Hiccup said, smiling. "Granted, I think we have a lot to catch each other up on, but...yeah. I forgive you for being a dumb selfish little shit when we were both nine because oh my God we were little kids and we were all dumb selfish little shits. Andy realized he doesn't have to carry all those expectations, Jack. That means you don't have to cary that kind of guilt over something that happened when we were kids."

Jack nodded, the lump in his throat preventing him from talking. Hiccup pulled him into a hug. 

"T-thank you," Jack stammered out. "Thank you," he repeated in a whisper. "I missed you."

"I missed you too, bud," Hiccup whispered back, and let Jack go to back up to. "So, you coming with us or what?"

"Of course," Jack said, slowly recovering. He couldn't take any more crying at the moment. "You still have my lighter, after all."

Hiccup snorted at him. "Oh, fuck you."

This time Jack was the one to initiate eye contact. His lips tugged into a private, intimate smile. "Make. Me."

After all the mental shocks Jack had today, it made him feel better to see Hiccup fluster with is words, and his cheeks go scarlet. "I think we have a whooooole lot of things to talk about."

Putting a companionable arm over Hiccup's shoulder, Jack laughed. "You bet your ass we do. Now lets get out of here before Sid and Andy leave without us, all right?"

-Fin-


End file.
